Bobby Mickey

Halfway There [Originally posted 2/14/14 on sportsblog.com]

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Happy Valentine’s Day and Happy All-Star Weekend. Had there been any forethought to my plans this year outside of getting into grad school, I would have planned around engaging in the madness that is going down in New Orleans. I don’t remember my first and only trip to New Orleans and want to go back and see it sober. This would have been the perfect backdrop to make my return. This is actually the first All-Star Weekend since I was a teen that I cared about the dunk and 3 point shooting contest.

I watched a little bit of hoops last night, Lakers vs. Thunder. KD did his normal thing, 43 points, 12 reb, 7 assists, and 3 steals. He struggled early on, but managed to pour in 19 points in the 4th quarter. What impressed me the most was that OKC started making stops in the 4th quarter;in contrast to the first 3 periods where Shawne Williams (was on fire the first half) and Kendall Marshall (17 assists for the game) looked like they were going to put a damper on OKC’s weekend. I never thought I would say this but its really hard to hate the Lakers right now, in fact, I kind of feel sorry for them. I just knew they’d find a way to lose to OKC.

It was the kind of game where they easily could have mailed it in and called it a good first half of the season. But KD went into Jordan mode and kept fighting–the whole team did. You can often look at games over the course of a championship run and see where teams win games they shouldn’t win. The Heat are at the point where they can play 30 plus minutes of bad basketball and still put things together in crunch time and gut out a W. The Spurs were renown for this, 2000 Lakers as well. The difference between home court advantage and a number one seed in the playoffs is often attributed to beating the teams to are supposed to beat. I think Durant understands this now. I can’t wait to see how the Thunder look when Russell Westbrook finally comes back.

Jayhawks get winged

Everything that could be written about Monday night’s game has already been written or tweeted about. K-State pulled out a gutsy win the other night. Every other play someone was going to the trainer’s room or getting looked at on the bench. Kansas got destroyed on the pick and roll; for some reason their guards would switch onto the rolling big men and the Wildcats would capitalize on the mismatch. Of course with a healthy Embiid (who hasn’t looked quite right since the TCU game) ,the result would probably have been different, but let’s just deal with the facts today.

The Jayhawks were so close to winning a game they had no business being in. When they came back to tie it and send it into overtime, I thought for sure the momentum would carry over into the extra period. Kansas just didn’t have the frontcourt depth on Monday (I would love to know what Jamari Traylor did to piss off Bill Self–Self runs a pretty loose ship so whatever it was must have been a serious bonehead move on Traylor’s part) to handle K-State’s bigs. The failure to defend the pick and roll, coupled with KU’s 17 % shooting (3-17) from 3 point land (in contrast to K-State’s 8-15 from downtown) culminated into one ugly performance on Big Monday, and the Wildcat faithful could not contain themselves. To show just how one sided the “rivalry” is, K-State’s fans stormed the court–something you would never see in Lawrence no matter who they defeated.

As I mentioned before, young teams can look like world beaters one week and then second round knockouts the following week. If KU and Wichita State played today, I’d lay my money on the Shockers.

I’m not sure if I’ll even bother watching the game Saturday afternoon. It depends on how well I recover from Friday night. Either way, its way too early in the game to get excited about how well or how poorly this team is doing. As I’ve pointed out before, its going to be an up and down year depending on which Jayhawks team shows up.

Have a Happy Valentine’s Day, and don’t catch VD.

Picking Up the Pace [originally posted on sportsblog.com 2/17/14]

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What more is there to say about the TCU game that hasn’t been tackled? It’s really hard to learn anything from a blowout when you are the winning team. The first half didn’t look so great. Kyan Anderson had 21 first half points (he only score 2 buckets in the second half). Perry Ellis only missed 2 shots the whole game on his way to getting 32 points. He also threw a couple of sick oops to Andrew Wiggins. TCU is terrible and it wouldn’t surprise me if they get relegated from the Big 12 in a couple of years. It seems like the sports program still hasn’t recovered from the “drug scandal” it had a few years back. Kansas goes down to Lubbock to face the “Tortilla tossers.” It could be a long and ugly night. It’ll be interesting to see how they play in that dusty environment. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail en route to a win. It would be unfortunate for them to lose that game because they were looking ahead to Saturday’s rematch with Texas.

The All Star Break is over and the lack of notable games (well except for Kentucky-Florida–which was a pretty good game–with the way UF plays D and their efficient offense, I wouldn’t be shocked to see them in the Final Four) this weekend allowed me to recuperate some of the sleep my body has been lacking. Three quarters of no defense was all that I could endure of the All Star Game (it may as well have been the official dunk contest with all the uncontested dudes were banging away at the rim). I turned the game off and caught up on some sleep (sort of).

The 3 point contest was meh, though I was happy to see Marco Belinelli win it. I like that the NBA is trying new things, but I was not feeling the East vs. West format. Seemed a bit corny to me. The dunk contest was WEAK SAUCE, but the dunk/dancing by champion John Wall was almost worth the $ 4.00 beer I had to buy to watch at a local bar.

Overall, I was a little underwhelmed with the festivities and presentation of the whole weekend. I think it would have been cool to have a local brass band do a NOLA rendition of “America the Beautiful”, and maybe Harry Connick Jr. do the national anthem. I would have loved to have seen Juvenile, Manny Fresh, and Lil Wayne do a Hot Boyz reunion rather than see Pharrell during the pre game ceremony. It just seems like the NBA failed to take advantage of all the local flavor that was available to them (Then again, I don’t know what kind of contractual obligations they had with sponsors. And there is a reason someone is getting paid to make those decisions, and I’m writing a sports blog for free).

Probably my favorite item from the whole thing was the “Happy Birthday” wishes for Bill Russell. It was so cool to see NBA ALL Stars all pay their respects to the greatest winner to ever suit up in an NBA uniform. I couldn’t help but tear up as it was happening. It was pretty touching.

Some really good games coming up this week:

That really nice Syracuse backcourt heads into Cameron Indoor on about 30 minutes before the Texas- Kansas (which will probably determine the Big 12 regular season title) game Saturday night. Michigan-Michigan State matches up on Sunday,if there is nothing better to do, I will probably watch that too. Oh yeah, Duke and North Carolina play on Wednesday, if you’re into that sort of thing.

In the NBA, the Spurs look to finally beat a winning team when they play the Clippers on Tuesday night. Most likely, “Pops” will sit his starters the next night against Portland. If that is the case I’ll just flip to the Warriors and Kings game which is on at the same time.

Thursday will be great viewing, as KD and Lebron face off again, then the Brooklyn Nets come to Oracle arena to face the Warriors.

Sunday evening gives us a John Wall vs. Kyrie Irving match-up, while the matinee game is Thunder-Clippers. Two items about this game. Russell Westbrook might be back as early as Thursday, so this could be two fully equipped squads going at it. The other part is that Blake Griffin will be coming home to Oklahoma City, and he always brings it when he plays at the Ford Center. Oh man. What was that I said about catching up on some sleep?

Final Four

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We’ve got our Final Four and for all my bitching about seeding and who had the easiest path, it still played out how most people predicted; Oklahoma City vs. San Antonio and Indiana vs. Miami.

It didn’t look like the Pacers would make it this far early on, with Roy Hibbert (the disappearing 7’2 black man) having the worst playoffs of all time for an All-Star (I’m 5’11 and I can get 2-3 rebounds on accident–how he goes an entire game without getting one is beyond me). But he recovered and so did the Pacers and now they finally have home court against Miami. No excuses, this what the Pacers and now they have it. This scenario reminds me too much of ’93 Knicks vs. Bulls. Knicks had home court and didn’t make a lick of difference to Michael Jordan, the greatest player in the game at that time. The Pacers have home court, but the Heat have Lebron James, the greatest player in the game now, as a wise man once said, “That shit don’t mean fuck” to Lebron.

Heat in Six

Before we get in to the Spurs-Thunder, let’s just wish a Bon Voyage to the Los Angeles Clippers. They had a great season and dealt with some ill timed distractions, but fuck those guys. Chris Paul is the best point guard in the game but on that John Stockton “sneaky dirty” tip. He whines, he complains, he fouls, and gets pissy when calls don’t go his way. Fuck him. Fuck J.J. Redick (still) and fuck Blake Griffin. Those dudes are a bunch of floppers and they get what they deserve for signing contracts with the infamous Donald Sterling. Only dudes on that team I respect are Jamal Crawford (so smooth with it) and Matt Barnes (keeps it grimey). I’m glad they got eliminated in the second round. As my homey Adrian (a lifelong Lakers fan) says, “Fuck Clippers for Life!”

The Thunder should have eliminated them in 5 games, they blew game 4 and now have to face the Spurs without Serge Ibaka because he injured his calf in the extra game they played. I would have predicted Spurs in 7 had they had a healthy Ibaka “blocka flame”, but now without him I say Spurs in six.

Scott Brooks as a coach is like the kid who comes over to play video games and he picks the best team and just shoots with the same players over and over again. He may beat you, but not because he’s a better gamer, but only because he is running with a better squad. Put Scott Brooks on the Orlando Magic, and there is no discernible difference in the win-loss records. I’m not saying Scott Brooks is a bad coach. I just don’t think he is an elite coach and he has been getting out-coached all playoffs. He also just happens to have the two best players in the Western Conference on his team. He’s a good coach though, a good personnel guy, but his in game strategy is sorely lacking.

Personally, I’m rooting for a Spurs-Heat rematch. I think the Spurs have the best chance of beating the Heat of the last teams remaining. They have the best coach, and Tony Parker is the best point guard left playing. The Spurs also have the best role players. They are better than next last year’s team based on that alone. A healthy Spurs would have smashed the Heat in six games last year (Parker was hobbled that whole series after game 1). I want the Heat to earn it if this is going to be the three-peat year. The hardest path for them would be through San-Antonio. I think this is what Spurs fans want as well, they’ll take their chances running it back against a Heat team that hasn’t gotten better (besides Lebron) but only got older.

Eastern Conference Finals begins in about an hour and a half. Bring it!

Lastly, Big shout outs to Mark Jackson, for handling his ouster from Golden State with grace. I don’t like the way it was all handled, and Mark Jackson deserved better. I hope he chills on them checks he gonna be getting til the perfect situation opens up for him. He’s a good coach who will someday be a great coach. Its obvious now that his firing had nothing to do with basketball. All that being said, I think Kerr is the perfect replacement for Coach Jackson. Kerr is really intelligent person who will certainly be a “player’s coach.”
I think his style will be a breath of fresh air for that camp. Of course, coaching is not why they lost in the first round. Their roster wasn’t nearly as good as last year’s and yet they managed to win more games this year than they did last year (this year’s conference was arguably tougher). A coach still needs players, and if Golden State trots out the same lineup next year they will NOT make the playoffs next year. The Lacob clan need to look in the mirror and decide how serious they are about becoming an elite franchise.

Have a good weekend and let’s pray for no more series turning injuries the rest of the way……. well unless they happen to the Heat.

Stretch Run [Originally posted on sportsblog.com 2/20/14]

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A big day today for this hoops fan. It is Sir Charles Barkley’s birthday (my nephew also born on this fine day 3 years ago). The NBA trade deadline ends in roughly 2 hours. Duke and North Carolina play tonight at 8pm, but the big boys throw down in OKC. KD vs. Lebron II: The return of Russ. If that isn’t enough, Golden State and Houston face off at 9:30 pm. I’m clearing off my schedule and unless there is an emergency, I’m not leaving my bedroom past 7 pm central time, except to eat and use the bathroom.

N.U.T.S (Never Underestimate The Spurs)

I should know by now that even if the big 3 of the Spurs aren’t playing, that Popovich will have his team ready to compete. The highlights were awesome and the game went down to the wire. I’m actually less surprised about the Spurs winning as I am that the Blazers still played relatively well without Lamarcus (out for a week with a groin injury). I’m sure Damien Lillard chipping in 31 points helped keep them in the game.

I had the choose between the 9 pm tip-offs of the Golden State and Sacramento game and Spurs-Blazers. No “Boogie” no problem right? Maybe I should have watched the Portland game, but the Dubs are one of my favorites (I kind of feel like the Kings are this surrogate delinquent child that I want so badly to see succeed) Isiah Thomas had a nice heat check moment (he put up 26 points 7 assists) that made me text my old roommate a University of Washington alum, and he responded that the Spurs game was amazing.

The Kings kept coming at the Warriors, but by the last minutes, the game was practically over, with Warriors up by 10. Curry wasn’t even the star of the game; it was David Lee with a “ho hum” 23 and 11. The most memorable part of the game was Jermaine O’Neal getting T’d up by the refs because he chose to let a ball (one he could have easily grabbed and retained possession of) go out of bounds, and the refs awarded it to Sacramento. I thought this was silly because the refs judgment would not have entered the picture had he just grabbed the board, but his tech allowed Sac to help cut down a shrinking Warriors’ lead, and got the Sacramento crowd into the game.

It was during the game that I saw that the Dubs had traded Kent Bazemore and Marshon Brooks for Steve Blake. I’ve always been kind of cold on Steve Blake ever since he missed a breakaway dunk that cost Maryland a sweet sixteen game back in 2003. He’s a good backup, I think I had my heart set on Golden State acquiring Andre Miller–no matter how unrealistic that was. He will definitely help the Warriors down the stretch. If they can find another big man on the cheap to play defense, they might be able to sneak into the Western Conference Finals.

Suddenly Everything Has Changed

There are 5 games left on the regular season schedule.

Kansas has 2 games on the road, one in Stillwater, the other in Morgantown. With the 3 home games against Texas, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech. I think if they beat Texas on Saturday and go at least 4-1, the conference title streak is easily intact. 3-2 will be pushing it, and KU fans may be rooting for other teams to lose. Backing into a regular season title doesn’t leave me feeling good about the Jayhawks chances of making the Final Four. I never thought it would be easy, but I also didn’t think the Jayhawks would struggle this much to score either.The offense this year has been just as ugly as last year’s squad, where it seemed like players didn’t know what to do. I do have to admit that I found the Andrew Wiggins baseline dunk amusing, for no other reason that invoked that scene from “Friday” (a wise Jaye Crockett moved out the way –making him Pooh’s dad–cut to 1:29 on that scene). Embiid’s baseline move early in the second half was pretty ill too. This hasn’t been the most cohesive unit ever put together, but you’re almost guaranteed a Sportscenter moment or two every game.

Texas could really put some pressure on the Jayhawks with a victory on Saturday. Their remaining games are Baylor and TCU in Austin, and games in Lawrence, Norman, and Lubbock. Even with a win in Allen Fieldhouse, they would still have a tough road ahead of them.
Iowa State is still a dark horse, but they have 3 of their last 5 games on the road, and would need a lot of help considering that KU already beat them twice, and they split the games against UT. Oklahoma would need a LOT of help as well, with a 4-2 conference record. I didn’t realize they were 19-7 for the year. I would be surprised if they didn’t make the tournament.

I’m still trying to talk myself out of going to the game on Saturday. If the atmosphere is anything like the OSU game on Januray 18th, then its going to be loud. There is a lot more on the line than revenge for this Saturday’s game. I wonder how the Longhorns are going to respond when they walk into the Fieldhouse and feel all that pressure. Saturday is simply the denouement of a hype week for hoops. Tonight is the apex. Enjoy!

Woodenesque? [Originally posted on sportsblog.com on 2/25/14]

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20 years from now, how will Bill Self’s legacy be perceived? Ten straight conference titles in ANY sport is a major accomplishment–especially in the post Wooden era of “one and dones”. I would put Bill Self up there with Coach K, Jim Boeheim and Rick Barnes (just kidding) as best coaches in the game right now. I got into the Texas game on Saturday (for a pretty reasonable price) and if you had told me the Horns would get smashed by 30 I would have looked at you crazy. But that’s what happened isn’t it? Of course, I knew there was the possibility of an emotional letdown come Big Monday; even with the chance to clinch the Big XII title in front of the home crowd. OU came with it, but it wasn’t enough. One major goal down, now its time to finish the season strong, remain healthy, and gear up for the Madness of next month. Here are a few random observations from the past few days:

Reintegration

Everyone knows that the Thunder need a healthy Russell Westbrook to be a legitimate threat to the Miami Heat, but the Thunder have lost the last two (big) games with him back in the starting lineup. Keep in mind that Westbrook has missed almost two months of hoops action due to his knee injury. Anybody who has even just played pickup ball can tell you that even a two week layoff can make you feel rusty. So imagine what 2 months can do to someone’s game. I’m curious about the thought process with Russ, Coach Brooks, and the front office about how to get him back involved with the team. He has been playing on a 25 minute limit basis, but with the way the team and Reggie Jackson have been playing, it makes you wonder if they considered bringing Russ off the bench with the second unit, until Russ got his legs and timing back. It is one thing to be out of sync against the Celtics or Bobcats, but the World Champs? Kinda dicey to throw Russ in there with such high expectations. Glad you’re back Russ. Can’t wait to see you at full speed.

While we’re at let’s talk about KD vs. Lerbon II

The stats from this game are a bit deceiving. Lebron had 33 points (15-22), 3 assists 7 boards and 4 steals (he also had 8 turnovers), while KD had 28 points (10-22) 8 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals (5 turnovers for Durant). You could tell Lebron was locked in from the tip, he made the first 10 points for the Heat and didn’t let off the throttle until Serge Ibaka Blocka Flame broke his nose. You could jump to either conclusion that a) Lebron outplayed Durant. or b) that the numbers were a pretty much a wash.

But either conclusion would be insufficient without taking into account that Chris Bosh and Dwayne Wade scored 24 points a piece. KD’s crew of Ibaka (14 points) and Westbrook (16 points) could barely muster 30 points between them.

The Heat looked more locked in, they shot 54 % and Oklahoma City only made 2-20 from 3 point land. The passing just wasn’t there for OKC, and settled for way too many jumpers (which is practically begging Miami to fast break on your team).

Let’s also put to bed this whole “OKC has the best crowd in the NBA” myth. I have been to many games at the Ford Center. They do get loud. But from my experiences the OKC faithful get loud at to start of the game, then they quiet down until something cool happens to get them loud. The Warriors fans out in the bay are a bit more involved, and sometimes directly affect plays with the level of noise they create (one can even use this same corollary with the Duke fans vs. Jayhawks. Cameron Indoors is always going HAM, while Allen Fieldhouse seems so dead sometimes when I’m there–though I don’t think it was always this way).

Boeheim Going Fed

I’m feeling this newly borne rivalry between Syracuse-Duke. The level of play of both games has been extremely high, and the pedigree both schools bring to the table amp the games up to a higher intensity. Its like watching a Final Four game without a neutral setting. Dick Vitale says that the first meeting this year was one of the five greatest games he’d ever been associated with. I cannot wait until they meet in the ACC tournament.

As for Boeheim losing his s#$% over that call, I can see why he did it (I got a chance to watch the replay last night). There was a lot of inconsistency in the officiating. One particularly error was a missed bump on CJ Fair that resulted in a traveling violation being called. The blocking call that gave Jabari Parker the AND1, was the exact same situation that went against Syracuse when Rodney Hood got the benefit of the charge. All that being said, Syracuse still had a chance to foul and get the ball back with a chance to tie it (depending on if Duke makes the ensuing one in one free throws). His ejection gave Duke four points plus the ball and thus ended the game. A tough way to end such a highly competitive game. If I’m a ref I don’t think I make a call that late, and let the game get decided on the court.

I went away from the game thinking that perhaps Syracuse is the best team in the nation, and even though the Jayhawks are the most talented, Syracuse would be a nightmare matchup for KU. Syracuse’s backcourt and disciplined big men could create a frustrating night for the Jayhawks and Bill Self. KU fans better pray this match up doesn’t happen until the Final Four in Dallas.

Jayhawks of the week:

Andrew Wiggins for his monster first half against Texas

17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists to begin the game on Saturday. The game was all over by halftime.

Tarik Black

There is no way to describe what it felt like to be there in person when EVERYONE collectively lost their minds.

Thomas Robinson
In a game where he put up 14 points and 18 rebounds. It was this block that made Jayhawks fans oh so proud.

This week is a real lull in the basketball week. KU goes down to Gallagher Arena on Saturday. Friday night Steph Curry goes up to MSG (not sure if you know this but players love to play in Madison Square Garden). Other than that, there isn’t much I’m hype for. I guess this means instead of watching basketball, I’ll be playing it instead. It never stops………….

Nuclear Winter??? [Originally posted on sportsblog.com 3/5/14]

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Senior Night tonight at Allen Fieldhouse. Texas Tech comes to town. It will be undoubtedly be an easier game than the last one. Home court advantage has to be worth at least 5 points (If I were betting on the game), I personally think it’ll be a double digit victory.

The regular season title has been won outright, and even if the loss in Gallagher Arena wasn’t a surprise, it still was disappointing that they didn’t nut up and wrestle that game away from Oklahoma State on Saturday–in front of Danny Manning and half the OKC Thunder team. It would have been a big statement to go into Stillwater and rip the heart out of everyone wearing black and orange. Instead, they let the Cowpokes hang around, and once it got close, Marcus Smart took over. Once again, the difference between a veteran team and a young squad. As I said before, there is no reason to panic, but when the Jayhawks aren’t hitting from the outside, it just gets ugly. I think no matter what, the season is a success. Teams rarely lose all five starters from a season ago and then go on to win conference–not in this era of college hoops. From the way they have looked all season, nothing outside of a first round knockout would surprise me. It’ll be interesting to watch for sure.

Maybe it’s this whole Ukrainian uprising/invasion that has me feeling sour. But I’m tired of fighting it and I’m just gonna be negative for a few paragraphs:

I’m not digging on Wiggins’ flailing his arms out every time he drives the lane. I wish he’d just play basketball and get stronger–quit worrying about the refs and just start banging on fools son! Every time I see someone slap the ball out of his hands, Wiggins attempt at getting to the line makes me think of this.

As happy as I am about Joakim Noah’s play the last few weeks, I still can’t bring myself to watch the Bulls play. The ugly offense they throw out there reminds me of those old school,early 90’s Knicks’ squads. Lots of heart and effort, but not at all aesthetically pleasing. On Sunday a twitter update showed that Noah was well on his way to a triple double, and I still couldn’t bring myself to turn on their game. I just couldn’t do it.

I’m not digging recent talk by media heads that the MVP award is suddenly Lebron’s again because he scored 61 points against the Charlotte Bobcats Hornets. Yes he is the Best Player in the League. But it isn’t the “Best Player in the League” award, its the MVP award. Without Kevin Durant’s ice cold January, the Thunder would have fallen back into the back once Russell Westbrook (He’s baaaccccccccck) went down with that knee injury. Durant plays in a vastly superior conference, where there are rarely any nights off, and he has done it without his top 5 point guard. When Lebron takes a night off, Miami still has Bosh, and sometimes Wade. Just stop it already folks, and give KD what he deserves. Oh and by the way, KD only played 3 quarters last night and put up 42 points (on 20 shots), 9 Rebounds, 3 assists, 2 stls and 1 block. Lebron played almost the whole entire game the other night when he got his 61 points (on 33 shots–THOUGH admittedly James was extremely efficient).

Good Games This Week Dawg

Tonight of course there is the KU-TTU game which may not be as good as the SMU vs. Louisville game. But in the NBA, I might stop in on Golden State-Boston, just to watch Rondo pass to a bunch of scrubs.

Thursday gives us Spurs-Heat; Thunder-Suns

Friday is Portland-Dallas, and Indy-Houston

Sunday is Phoenix-Golden State (my favorite of the day)Indy-Dallas, Miami-Chicago, and OKC-LAL.

For the college kids we have:

UCONN-Lousiville, Duke-UNC, and Kentucky-Florida. All on Saturday.

Hopefully developments in the Ukraine won’t look as bleak by then. If only they could just settle the territorial/governmental disputes by a series of home and away games, instead of all this recent and potential bloodshed. Shoot baskets,not people.

Shocking the World [originally posted 3/11/14 on sportsblog.com]

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I must apologize for the tone of last post. Current events can be such a bummer sometimes. So in the spirit of the human race avoiding a World War III scenario (for now), I’m going to embrace the things that I love about basketball (and life in general). Let’s go!

1) I love that I got the opportunity to see Tarik Black play for Kansas. I knew he’d be a great senior presence on the team, but hearing all the positive things said about him is heartwarming and inspiring. He describes his time here in Lawrence as life changing, and coach Self has said that “it would be hard to find a better teammate” than Tarik. At the beginning of the season I thought he was just going to be a defensive presence, but there have been a few games where he has made an impact down on the offensive block (not to mention a few memorable rim rattling dunks). How more perfect could he have played (9 of 9 with 6 rebounds, 2 blocks and only 2 personal fouls) in his last night on the Allen Fieldhouse Floor?

2) I love the defensive effort the Jayhawks displayed on senior night against Texas Tech last Wednesday. That was arguably the best they have looked on D all year.

3) I love the fire that Andrew Wiggins showed during the regular season finale against West Virginia. There wasn’t much to like about the game. The flow was klunky (I felt like I was at the local community building waiting for next–praying that a team finally goes on a run and gets 15th point), and the officiating (for both teams) was some of the worst I’d seen all season long. Missed traveling calls are one thing, but over judicious whistles disrupt the flow of the game. Let em play! But I digress. What Wiggins did on Saturday put the rest any of that silly talk about him being overrated (12-18 shooting 41 points 4 blocks, 5 steals, and 8 rebounds).

The cold blooded part about was that he wasn’t beating his chest and yelling “Let’s go!” He had the same stoic look he always has when he’s mashing on dudes. The basket, the steal on the ensuing in-bounds pass and dunk sequence was one of those “uh oh he about to take the game over” stretches. No matter what happens to the Jayhawks, I will consider his season a success, and that was even before his performance on Saturday. He has scored the most points ever by a Jayhawks freshman, has the highest total points in a game by a Jayhawk (a record formerly held by the guy who punched Mitch McGary in the gnads), and he won Big 12 Freshman of the Year. Can the haters let my boy live?

4)I’m loving how the Shockers are the best basketball team in Kansas and the reactions from Jayhawks homers when I mention this to them. Go to any bar in Lawrence and you will hear people saying how much they hope to land in the same bracket as Wichita State so “they can run them.” I’m not sure Kansas fans feel quite as cocky now that Embiid is on the shelf indefinitely. There is a great article by Grantland’s Jordan Conn (who besides Jonathan Abrams,Zach Lowe and Andrew Sharp is one of those cats who always seem to come with it when they write) discussing how dismissive KU fans are of Wichita State’s run.

I hear the same regurgitated arguments, “They would be middle of the pack if they were in the Big 12,” or “they hadn’t played anybody yet.” 34-0 is 34-0. John Wooden said it best when he said (and I’m paraphrasing) “the only opponent is yourself.” That means that no matter who you play, as a team you are playing against a standard and it doesn’t matter who the other team is. How many times have the Jayhawks lost to an inferior team this year? How many times has this happened to the Shockers? Exactly. That means every game they played, they have been mentally prepared and didn’t allow for any letdown games.

No one talks about Arizona being overrated (for the record, I don’t think they are); playing in an over glorified softball, flag football, volleyball, track and field conference. The “Wack-12” has been irrelevant for years, but because the conference makes a lot of money for the NCAA, people disregard this fact. I would have taken Wichita State over KU before the Embiid injury, now I feel even more confident that the Shockers will have a deeper run than the Jayhawks.

5) I’m loving James Michael McAdoo’s rugged look these days. He’s rocking the “I’m going through some thangs, it may be time for me to do things differently” kind of look. It makes him look less like a petulant pretty boy, and more like a dude ready to put in some work on the boards. I’m sure by the time tournament play starts, he’ll have cleaned his look up. But it’s a good sign when a dude is coming to practice everyday looking like “Eff it. We need these wins. I ain’t got time to worry bout nothing but hoops and making grades. Eff everything else.”

6) I’m loving that in addition to Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker put in some work to get Duke a much needed W against their bitter rival, UNC. His 30 points and 11 rebounds put the stamp on the narrative for his career at Duke; on his last night in front of the Cameron Crazies. I think he’ll be the real deal in the pro’s. He may or may not be an all-star, but he can’t be any worse than Glenn Robinson or Vin Baker can he? And while I’m talking about the UNC-Duke rivalry, with UNC not being as good lately, it almost seems like UNC is in danger of feeling like the odd man out, as the rivalry between Syracuse and Duke quickly develops.

I imagine UNC and Duke as two neighborhood kids who have known each other all their lives, and then right before high school starts, an older, cooler kid moves in across the street; hits it off splendidly with Duke, thus causing some friction between Duke and Carolina. Syracuse and Duke don’t have the history, but it certainly has the intensity.

7) I’m loving the Los Spurs jerseys that the team rocked against “El Heat” (doesn’t quite roll off the tongue does it?) Sure they supposedly hinder the shots of players like Lebron James, but I don’t care. I don’t need excuses, I need to see more reasons to spend my money on NBA swag.

8) I love not watching the Rockets play. Geez their games are way too long. It feels like Rockets games last at least 15-30 minutes longer than games from any other teams in the league. The high number of fouls, flopping, and Dwight Howard’s bricks make Rockets games nearly un-watchable. I feel like Patrick Beverley is another cheap shot away from becoming this generation’s Bruce Bowen. Damien Lillard is the latest to get annoyed by Beverley’s overzealous play. This spawned an interesting analysis on Grantland about Beverley’s affect on the team

9) I love that Jalen Rose has a job in the media. Having worked both as a professional ballplayer and now as an analyst, Jalen has a unique perspective. He peels back the curtain and offers a glimpse into both worlds. With so many different media outlets trying to create a narrative when there isn’t a story to report, Jalen’s analysis is one of the few places where you’ll get the real deal. He gives the people what they want.

10) I love watching Phoenix and Golden State play. Back when I lived in the Bay Area (without a college degree), I always wanted–but couldn’t afford–to be in attendance for this match-up. Back 2007, it was Steve Nash and company vs. Monta Ellis and Baron Davis, but it was an uptempo game that would sometimes get up in the 120’s. The current Golden State roster is better than that mid-aught’s squad, with Don Nelson tinkering with lineups like a chemistry experiment. I can’t argue that this year’s squad is better than the “7 seconds or less” Phoenix teams, but they are fun to watch again. I like the Morris boys way more than I ever did while they were in college. I thought they were bullies back in their KU days, but now they just seem like really tough enforcers. They add a much needed physical dimension to Jeff Hornacek’s roster. I hope the Morris boys play their whole NBA careers together.

11) Lastly, I love the idea of the NBA shortening its season. 82 games is too many. It felt like many of the good teams hit a serious lull after the All-Star Break. I know there is a lot of money to lose by reducing the season, but is there really a need for 12 extra games? Players get tired, players get hurt, and then the game suffers for these periods where key players are recovering, and rehabbing for the playoffs. I’d even be into an extra round if its about making up the lost money.

I think the NBA playoffs is long enough as it is, but if you took away 12 meaningless games in exchange for an extra round, at least the games would be of consequence. But if that happens, I’d like to see the top overall 18 teams get in, rather than this whole Eastern/Western Conference thing. Its not fair (to the players or fans) that a team can play mediocre ball all season and get rewarded simply because of geography. What sense does that make? Why we’re at it, I agree with Sir Charles Barkley’s simple solution to tanking. Lottery teams get one ping pong ball apiece. Why reward failure and bad management decisions? Philadelphia, Sacramento, Toronto, Cleveland, and Milwaukee have been perennial losers, and the lottery picks haven’t done those franchises any good. I believe in you Adam Silver. Make it happen captain!

Enjoy the conference tournaments. You best believe I’m dropping everything on my schedule to watch Syracuse and Duke if they happen to meet up again.

Peace.

Playing Catch Up [Originally posted at sportsblog.com on 3/20/14]

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It’s finally here. Games tipped off about an hour and a half ago. I’m in a greyhound terminal in Oklahoma City, only miles away from Chesapeake Energy Arena where the Oklahoma Thunder play. I’ve been on the road for a week; catching up with old friend and family and my internet access has been spotty at best.

I had planned on writing a post-conference tournament wrap up column earlier in the week. Had things gone according to plan, I could have bestowed a congratulations to Deandre Kane (man I hope the Thunder, Pacers, Warriors or Spurs draft him) and the rest of the Iowa State Cyclones for winning the the toughest conference I have seen in years. Coach K disagrees with me I’m sure, but I think Duke would be a double digit loss team had they played in the Big 12 this year.

Iowa State was due to finally beat Kansas. They had been so close to winning against them the last couple of years (the hard fought games reminded me of those epic Duke-Maryland battles from 2000-2002). You could tell that the Ames faithful, Fred Hoiberg, and company wanted that W badly. I thought the first half of the KU-ISU game was one of the best halves of basketball I’d seen all year, and incredibly hard fought. I was wondering how they would have anything in the tank for the second half. It was a physical game and a poorly officiated one as well. Refs need to learn how to let the boys play and worry more about traveling and palming violations than calling fouls.

It sucked to see KU lose the way they did. Iowa State was too big to play small ball against them. The ball movement in the 2nd half was damn near non-existent. Besides Perry Ellis, no one on the team played well enough for the Jayhawks to win. Wiggins had scored 71 points the last 2 games, so it was unrealistic to expect an otherworldly performance against the Cyclones without Embiid to take focus away from him. I cringe every time Jamari Traylor puts the ball on the floor. Things just get ugly. He was trying to do too much(maybe he been watching too many Morris Chestnut movies?)–someone should tell him to chill on the hero ball–there’s no need for it.

Selection Sunday has come and gone. I’m sure you’ve heard all the analysis by now and I don’t need to to go back into why I think Kansas will lose to Syracuse in the Sweet Sixteen. All I am going to say is that if i’m a Wichita State player I’m licking my chops at the challenge that is awaiting them. This is their “prove it” moment. They get to face the best in the toughest bracket to ever be set up for an undefeated team. They can silence the critics just by making it to the Final Four. Anyway, enough talk, I’m going to let my bracket do the talking for me. The madness is already upon us.

First Round Knockout/Second Round Hangover [originally posted on sportsblog.com 3/25/14]

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Well my bracket is officially F@#$ed. And the two teams I were rooting heavily for are both out like fat kids playing dodgeball.

Shout outs to Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early (12-17 shooting 31 pts 7 rebounds 1 steal, 1 block) and Kansas’ Tarik Black ( 18 points 6 rebounds) for giving it their all, and leaving nothing on the court for the last games of their college careers. It was a pleasure to watch both of them play this year.

Sunflower Season State Wrap Up

Let’s start with the Jayhawks. I said before the tournament started that the season would be a success no matter what happened, but I had figured that the team would be able to make the Sweet Sixteen even without Embiid. I am willing to admit that I was probably wrong about my assessment of the Pac-12’s talent. The only team I had advancing was Arizona. I had Stanford, Arizona State (who I’m sorry to say goodbye to their cheerleaders–I mean I thought UCLA had the baddest stable but I’m happy to be wrong about that) UCLA and Oregon getting knocked out in the first round. I need to pay more attention to their conference obviously, because they were representing. Zona, UCLA, and Stanford are still playing, while Oregon made me look foolish picking against them in the first round.I had New Mexico beating Stanford and in hindsight, that looks pretty awful as well. I thought for sure Syracuse would be playing Kansas this week, but the tournament gods had other plans.

KU ran up against the perfect match-up for an early exit. Stanford’s front court was the perfect foil for KU, and the lack of outside shooting and inconsistent guard play for Kansas did them in (5-16 from 3 point land; 14 turnovers).

Just like that, the KU boys season was over and Andrew Wiggins finished his college career with 4 points on 1-6 shooting in his last game. Offensively, the whole team looked stagnant. There was very little movement without the ball; players were standing around. No one was setting up picks for other players either. Was this a coaching thing, or were the players just tired? I’m racking my brain to think of the last balanced offensive squad that Self has put out on the floor, and I can’t think of any after the ’08 championship squad. It was a disappointing way to see them go out, but it was a good season.

Big ups to Stanford for playing great defense and holding the Jayhawks to 57 points on 32 % shooting. Big ups to Johnny Dawkins (who looks so much like the guy who played the honorable Elijah Muhammad in “Malcolm X” ) for a great game plan. Last but not least, big ups to the Stanford band for bringing joy and pageantry to this weekend’s madness.

I hadn’t been too impressed with Kansas State at all this year, but my desire for a K-State and Wichita State second round (and outright disrespect for Kentucky) led me to pick with my heart. Wichita State draws Kentucky (which everyone concedes may be the best #8 seed in tournament history from a talent stand point alone) in the second round. From just watching the game, it felt like the Shockers were the underdog and Kentucky was the # 1 seed (while we’re at it, can we all admit that putting the Shockers in the same region as Duke, Michigan, Kentucky, Louisville, and Texas was a big middle finger to Wichita for being in the Missouri Valley Conference? If the NCAA selection committee really wanted to be fair, they would pick the seeds but then draw the teams out of a hat for regional placement–kind of like soccer. This would take alleviate some of the accusations of regional and conference bias).

I’ve read many people call the Kentucky-Wichita State game the best so far this season, and I’m not one to disagree. The intensity was high, the flow (besides a whistle happy officiating crew–though not quite as bad as the Stanford-KU game) was up tempo and exciting. There were big dunks, great shots, and amazing passes. Even though the Wildcats were bigger, longer, and deeper than the Shockers, the MVC champs were one shot away from beating Kentucky, or sending the game into overtime. I’m sorry that I won’t get to watch this lineup anymore. Cleanthony Early and Fred Van Fleet will be handing the controls over to guard Ron Baker.

Despite what some of the haters have said, this season won’t be remembered as a disappointment. In fact, the Shockers played an unprecedented stretch of basketball (first team to go 35-0), where even in defeat, they played at ridiculously high level. The “mediocre” Kentucky team that has at least 5 possible NBA players (Willie Cauley-Stein arguably the best prospect), shot lights out and out-rebounded Wichita State by almost ten rebounds and still only won by 2 points. I think if they had somehow managed to win against UK, then a rematch against Louisville this year would not be decided by the “fastest jump ball whistle” in college basketball history. Wichita State had a better team this year than last, while Louisville regressed a little.The fans (who were louder than the KU fans were up in St. Louis) from Wichita should be extremely proud of what this team accomplished, and no matter what anyone says, they are winners in my book. Even in defeat, the Shockers proved that they could play with any team in the nation.

Big Daddy Kane

DeAndre Kane put in work when his team needed it the most (24 points 10 rebounds and 7 assists). I have been saying all year that he’s a grown ass man, and last night’s performance proved that he is the “real deal”, as Kenny Smith put it. I had Iowa State going to the final four, but pretty much wrote them off after Georges Nang broke his foot. Cyclones had some timely shooting from Naz Long (4-8 shooting from 3), but when they needed someone to put the team on his back, DeAndre answered the call.

Napier going FED

Speaking of putting the team on your back, Shabazz “Palaces” Napier put in 21 of his 25 points in the second half;pretty much doing the Villanova Wildcats in by himself. There were a couple of times where Napier would put up a deep shot and my stream would freeze in mid air, one of those times the ball looked well short of the bucket, and somehow it hit nothing but net. I lost my s&%$ right then and there.

This weekend brought us one of the best opening rounds of hoop I have seen in years. The close games, exciting match ups, and bracket busting upsets helped this year’s tournament live up to the hype (so far). Stephen F. Austin and Mercer are just two glaring examples of why the tournament is so exciting, because contrary to what people think, the best team rarely wins the whole thing–it is normally the hottest team that does. Once the tournament is over, we’ll examine the Jayhawks’ season as a whole, but out of respect for the teams still playing, we’ll focus on the rest of the field. Good luck with the rest of your brackets.

Shaking Up the Narrative [originally posted 3/25/14]

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With no NCAA games until Thursday, I wanted to take advantage of the reprieve to talk a little NBA. We’re still mired in the NBA doldrums until next month, but there are a couple things I wanted to discuss:

KD for MVP Part II

According to Magic Johnson, KD has locked up the MVP this year. I’d been saying it since January, but it seems like every night, the “D.C. Sniper” does something incredible to distance himself from the rest of the pack. He absolutely killed it against the Raptors putting up 51 points, 12 boards, and 7 assists. The three pointer to end the game in double overtime was filthy. Down 110-118 with 49 seconds to go, it didn’t look good for the Thunder, but I should have known better than to doubt KD and company. After having my bracket busted earlier that day, KD’s game winner made my night.

Why not the Clippers?

For anyone who hasn’t been paying much attention to pro ball, the Los Angeles Clippers are the trendy pick to unseat Oklahoma City and San Antonio Spurs as the favorites to win the Western Conference. A friend of mine has been blowing up my phone with texts saying this was the Clippers’ year. I didn’t take him seriously for the first couple of weeks he said this, but during the most recent Warriors-Clips game, I asked myself “Why not?”

Their bench is pretty decent with Matt Barnes, Glen Davis, Jamal Crawford, Darren Collison,and Danny Granger coming off the bench.
This is the best coach any of the current Clippers have ever had (except Matt Barnes who played for Phil). Doc Rivers already has a ring, and is one of the five best coaches in the league right now. Most of the reason it was hard to take the Clippers seriously was because of Vinny Del Negro. He’s gone now though. Coaching is no longer an impediment with the team.

People were getting excited about the Warriors getting Andre Iguadola, but many foresaw them regressing this year. Their bench play has been lacking, and this has caused the Dubs to struggle more than they did when they had Jarrett Jack to help spell Steph Curry. With Phoenix surging and the Warriors not looking quite as strong, it’s going to be interesting to see who has to face LAC in the first round.

I can’t wait to see how the seeding works out, though I wish the NBA would get crazy with it and adopt this playoff model.

Speaking of playoff intensity, Miami vs. Indy tomorrow night. Clear your schedules.